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WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION MINUTES

Regular Meeting  --  May 12, 2009

Chair Roger Thompson called the meeting of the 2008-2009 Academic Coordinating Commission to order at 4:12 pm on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.  There were ten (10) members present, the Recorder (1) and three guests (3) for a total of fourteen. 

Approval of ACC minutes.  Members approved minutes of April 28, 2009 with corrections to three sections.  

Report from the Chair

·   Chair Thompson reported that a May 28^th meeting is planned for the new CUE. 

·    A second invitational meeting for the campus curriculum committees and administrative assistants to review new forms and processes will be held after June 1^st.

Appointments and Elections

Commissioners conducted a secret ballot vote for single positions for which there was more than one candidate.  Then in one vote Commissioners appointed the following faculty to ACC Standing Committees through 2011:

ACTION ITEM:

5.    READING OF CURRICULUM MINUTES (Exhibit B)

APPROVAL OF REVISED E-FORMS

Commissioners voted to approve a new E-Form, “General University Requirements Course Proposal Form”. 

A vote to approve the “Request for a New Course” was postponed.  Commissioners determined that the form is not quite ready to become public because of concerns about a new process that may involve department chairs signing off on course requests that have resource implications. 

The E-form has limitations and faculty would like to avoid cumbersome use of word form attachments in order to answer are questions such as:

Have these resource implications been discussed at the college and department level?

Has the chair approved the resource implications of your proposal? (for FTE, Staff, Equipment)

If there are no resource implications, please say why (for example, this course is a substitute course)

Commissioners may consider a standard disclaimer placed on the bottom of the E-form so that unit heads do not have to open additional word form attachments.

The challenge is to have some way for those that disperse resources or hire faculty to have a more centralized way to learn about upcoming demands before the course or program decisions takes effect.

Another issue that arose is the question of passing grade which appear differently in the Catalog than on the forms.  Kathy Knutzen reported that in her understanding a “D” is a passing undergraduate grade for credit, according to WWU practice; however some of the forms say “C-“.   This actually occurs in one drop down menu on the GUR forms, and for a non-prerequisite undergraduate course “D” is generally a credit bearing grade.  This needs to be clarified.  Further discussion will no doubt ensue to determine whether variations in grade requirements may be allowed to happen only in the major if a department so determines.

STRAW VOTE – RE COMMISSIONER’S CONCERN

Graduation Honors

Commissioners rejected  (by one in a close straw vote without  quorum) a request for an exception for 17 students to be allowed Graduation Honors. With the understanding that the graduation policy was a matter for the ACC, the concern was brought by the Registrar who asked for a one time only exception until the policy is reviewed because the restriction appears to impose undue and probably unintentional hardship.  The Registrar was particularly concerned because with a huge community college structure in this State we welcome transfer students with the expectation they will have some equal footing with the rest of our students.

At issue is the fact that these 17 students will finish with only 75 credits at Western when the policy requires that 90 credits be completed at Western in order to achieve Graduation Honors.

In addition the policy allows them to transfer in with 105 credits from a community college which means they only need 75 credits to reach the required 180.  The two parts of the Honors policy do not then coincide.

However, Commissioners were leery of any exception which might unduly favor these students over others who have stayed at the university to acquire their 90 credits.

The policy is inconsistent and somewhat unfair and needs complete review not only with regard to transfer students but also students who study abroad and who are denied Graduation Honors because of a junior and senior residency requirement.  The topic will come back at a future meeting.

Adjournment 5:50 pm

Rose Marie Norton-Nader, Recorder, May 12, 2009

ACADEMIC COORDINATING COMMISSION 2008-2009 ROSTER